A variety of manual or hand-held implements have been utilized to facilitate scrubbing and cleaning of flooring. The maintenance of floors, especially tile floors, typically involves cleaning with a wet mop to remove accumulated dirt. One common type of mop for household usage is a sponge mop having a relatively soft, absorbent material, such as an open cell sponge, which can absorb several times its weight in liquid. The sponge mop is typically attached to a handle to allow the user to move the mop across the floor in an efficient manner.
Sponge mops for home usage are often provided with a wringer attachment for removing moisture from the absorbent sponge material to facilitate floor cleaning. In use, cleaning fluid, which typically includes a liquid detergent and water, is placed in an ordinary bucket and the mop is dipped into the bucket to absorb the cleaning fluid. The mop is then withdrawn and moved across the floor to spread the cleaning fluid on the floor. The cleaning fluid loosens or dissolves dirt from the floor surface. The mop is then held over the bucket and wrung with the wringer attachment on the mop to remove excess moisture. The damp mop is then moved across the floor area to absorb the cleaning fluid along with the dissolved dirt from the surface. The mop is then held over the bucket and the wringer attachment is again used to remove moisture from the absorbent material. The process is repeated until the entire floor surface is cleaned.
One problem with the sponge mops is that the soft absorbent material is not sturdy or aggressive enough to effectively clean ground-in dirt. For example, on tile floors a sponge mop does not effectively clean the grout lines between the tiles. Typically, if a floor is only cleaned with a sponge mop, ground-in dirt builds up on the floor surface, or in the case of tile flooring, ground-in dirt builds up in the grout lines and on the tile surfaces. Such ground-in dirt must periodically be removed by hand scrubbing with a brush or other such more aggressive device. Because the floor is only periodically scrubbed, the process for removing the build-up of dirt from the floor surface is labor-intensive.
One solution to this problem is to prevent the dirt from building up on the floor surface by scrubbing the floor on a more regular basis. However, this takes additional time and is labor-intensive.
Another solution to this problem is proposed in Applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 08/401,735, filed on Mar. 9, 1995, which proposes a mop having a cleaning surface formed from a combination of absorbent material and a brush portion. However, a special bucket wringer adapted to receive the brush portion such that the brush portion remains uncompressed as the water is wrung from the absorbent material is required. However, a separate bucket wringer is often impractical and too costly for home usage.
Accordingly, a need has arisen for providing a self-contained cleaning apparatus for cleaning both smooth and textured surfaces, such as a tile floor, which does not require specialized equipment or substantial additional time for cleaning. The present invention is a result of observation of the disadvantages in the known floor cleaning systems and efforts to overcome them.